Button 1 being read as Escape key (Ultimarc MiniPAC)

[FormulaFox]

Hey all, I figured I'd ask about this here before I bother Andy about this, but I have an Ultimarc MiniPAC encoder that, up until today, has been working very well. All of a sudden today, out of the blue, button #1 started being read both as it's intended input, AND the keyboard Escape key. The MiniPAC is in Xinput mode(works best with the widest variety of programs), and a test of the other modes revealed this issue only occurs in Xinput mode. Something is causing Windows to read this button as the Escape key as well as whatever I set it as in WinIPAC. I can't figure out what may be causing this.

Does anyone here have any idea what it might be? I need to find and fix the problem because some games automatically bring up menus or go backwards when the Escape key is pushed.

[Zebidee]

Assuming it isn't some previously hidden Windows issue (?), or an issue with your Xinput controllers (all of them?), maybe it is hardware related.

The MiniPAC will be sharing ground with other devices connected to your PC, including the audio system, and it is possible one is causing ground interference. It might not have been an issue previously, but some components like capacitors can degrade over time so who knows.

Try disconnecting everything possible from PC, except say monitor and MiniPAC, and see if problem persists.

I've recently experienced something similar with the audio amplifier when driven at full 24v, especially when the music volume gets higher. My IPAC shift/enter and pause buttons (1SW8 and 1SW7 respectively, and closest to the PS2 jack) start to randomly get pressed! Problem is worse as amp volume goes up, disappears once I unplug the 3.5mm PC input to amp.

For time being I've disconnected the amp. Hopefully a ground loop isolator will help (awaiting delivery).

Hope this helps.

[FormulaFox]

I don't have any xinput devices present aside from the MinIPAC, so it wouldn't be other controllers. As for other devices like the wireless mouse/keyboard, well... Can't rule out them being part of the equation yet, BUT....

IT WAS F-ING STEAM. I know this because I closed Steam for other reasons, and the problem went away. Came back when I reopened it. I don't know why - I messed around with the Steam controller settings(switched from XBox controller config to PS4 and back) and the problem cleared up. So I can't specifically point to the definitive element that caused it, but Steam was involved in some way.

[Zebidee]

IT WAS F-ING STEAM. I know this because I closed Steam for other reasons, and the problem went away. Came back when I reopened it. I don't know why - I messed around with the Steam controller settings(switched from XBox controller config to PS4 and back) and the problem cleared up. So I can't specifically point to the definitive element that caused it, but Steam was involved in some way.

This is something to add to my list of reasons for not letting Steam anywhere near my arcade cabinets

[FormulaFox]

IT WAS F-ING STEAM. I know this because I closed Steam for other reasons, and the problem went away. Came back when I reopened it. I don't know why - I messed around with the Steam controller settings(switched from XBox controller config to PS4 and back) and the problem cleared up. So I can't specifically point to the definitive element that caused it, but Steam was involved in some way.

This is something to add to my list of reasons for not letting Steam anywhere near my arcade cabinets

I require it as the whole reason I did a PC for my cab was to have some newer games like Guilty Gear Xrd(and eventually Strive), Mortal Kombat 11 and the like. Many games I wanted for this are only available through Steam or Epic, and I much prefer Steam.

[FormulaFox]

Okay, guys, new issue... Steam is not related to this, as it happens even if Steam is set NOT to boot with Windows, but it involves the same button.

Pin 1A, to which my Admin button is connected, is remapping to P1 BACK every time I power off my system. EVERY. TIME. I map it P1 HOME for my purposes. I save the new configuration every time I change it back, but it just won't stay mapped that way. It retains the setting through reboots, when when I power the PC off, it changes it back.

I have not checked with other pins yet, as I will be using all the pins once I get the buttons I ordered for the pinball setup in, so this problem NEEDS to be solved.

Any ideas?

[Zebidee]

I don't understand why the settings aren't saved in firmware either, but you could try automatically programming the MiniPAC on startup via a shortcut in the startup folder.

[FormulaFox]

Did a little more poking around. ALL of the pins are remapping to something else during powerup. It just so happens that the majority of them want to go what I already mapped them to.

[Zebidee]

Resets to mame default?

[FormulaFox]

No, the mapping doesn't line up. Everything but this button maps to what you would expect for an Xinput device, save for this one button.

I have also just discovered that the board will not switch to other modes anymore. I tried to switch to Dinput with the intent of switching back and hoping that did it, but the board won't change modes.

[FormulaFox]

Figured it out. I was in talk with Andy over at Ultimarc since I posted about the new problem - I posted here in case someone had encountered the same thing and could skip over troubleshooting straight to the solution. An unlikely hope, but never something not worth looking into.

Anyhow, the problem is that the board had somehow gotten put into Xinput Mode 3, which maintains specific mapping. It needed to be in Xinput Mode 5. Trouble is, I couldn't get it to go into Mode 5. As I noted in my most recent post, it wouldn't switch modes at all! THAT part turned out to be a simple case of PEBCAK - I had accidentally clicked off the Ipac Shift function for the START1 button at some point - since my setup only ever would need that to change input Modes, easy error for me to overlook. But after correcting this, it still wouldn't go into Xinput Mode 5.

On a hunch, I switched to Dinput Mode 2, then tried switching back to Xinput Mode 5, and... it switched over! After doublechecking my mappings to make sure they were as needed, I powered off the PC, and when it powered back on, the intended mappings remained!

So, what I SUSPECT, and I have asked Andy if he thinks this could be the case, is that the prior weird behavior from Steam (the one that led to this thread) caused the system to get locked into Mode 3 while THINKING it was in Mode 5, so it wouldn't reconfigure itself into Mode 5 until it was taken out of it. I'll post Andy's opinion on that when he gets back to me.

[drfrancky]

For the STEAM problem i think it is related to the DESKTOP CONFIGURATION under SETTINGS. Disable it. There was a update recently that added funcionality to control the desktop with joystick when Steam is running.